A house containing over three hundred people
chained in their arms and legs has been discovered
by police in Kaduna State.
The house already unbundled by personnel of the
Nigeria Police, was said to be located in Rigasa
community, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna
State.
A house with over three hundred people in Rigasa
community, Igabi local Government Area of Kaduna
State has been unbundled by personnel of the
Nigeria Police.
Some of them according to the force are said to be
from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries.
Among the inhabitants were children who confess to
be abused homosexually, while elderly say they
subjected to daily recitation of the Holy Quran and
prayers with torture.
With chains on their legs and scars of injuries from
torture, they disclose that Thursday evening’s
unbundling of the place is liberation from slavery.
Bello Hamza 42 years old another inmate said,
“he was tricked to the centre by his family who are
interested in taking over my shared of our
inheritance”.
In his words:
“I have spent three months here with
chains on my legs. Am supposed to be pursuing
my Masters in University Pretoria South Africa. I got
admission to study Applied Mathematics, but here I
am chained.
“They claim to be teaching us Quran and Islam, but
they do a lot of things here. They subject the
younger ones to homosexuality.
“This is supposed to be an Islamic centre, but
trying to run away from here attracts severe
punishment; they tie people and hang them to the
ceiling for that, but engaging in homosexuality
attracts no punishment.
“Within my short stay here, somebody had died as
a result of torture. Others have died before my
coming due to poor health and torture. They give us
very poor food and we only eat twice a day;
11:00am and 10:00pm.
“They have denied me alot of things here. I am a
family man, I have responsibilities, but I am
chained here not knowing what is happening to my
family members”.
CP Ali Aji Janga while briefing newsmen at the site
said, “we received an information that something is
going on in this rehabilitation centre or Islamic
center. So, I sent my DPO here to check what was
going on. On getting here, we discovered that, this
is neither a rehabilitation centre or Islamic school.
“You can see it yourself that, small children, some
of whom are brought from neighbouring African
countrieslike Burkina Faso, Mali and others and
from across Nigeria. Most of them are even
chained.
“These people are being used, dehumanized. You
can see it yourself.
“The man who is operating this home claimed that,
parents brought their children here for rehabilitation.
But, from the look on things this is not a
rehabilitation centre. No reasonable parent will bring
his children to this place.
“So, we are going to investigate them and get to the
root of the matter. We will find out the real motive
behind this centre, and if they are found wanting
they will be charged to court.
“But first, we are evacuating all the people from this
place to our station and we will make
announcement for parents to come and recover their
children.” He said.
Meanwhile, the Proprietor of the centre simply
identified as Malam said, all they do in the centre is
teach people Islam.
According to him, “All those allegations of torture,
degumanization and homosexuality are false and
mere allegations. We do nothing here other than
teaching people Islam.
“They don’t do anything other than, recitation of
Qur’an, pray and worship God. Those chained are
the stubborn ones who attempt running away. Those
who don’t attempt running away are not chained.
Some were chained before and after settling down,
they were freed.
“Most of them were brought by their parents from
across the country and others from outside the
country.” He said.
Meanwhile, at the end of the raid, the inmates were
evacuated from the premises in about 15 Danfo
buses to the Police headquarters.
Young-po Reporters 